So, if no new deal is reached between the Aeros and the Rockets, the team will likely be forced to move to another city.

"At Toyota, it's one of those things where I think the Rockets would love to have them stay, but they have a business model," said Janis Schmees, the executive director of the sports authority. "They are turning away concerts and have to make sure when they are turning business away that they can accommodate the Aeros and make it worthwhile financially."

Per terms of the Rockets' deal with the sports authority for Toyota Center, the Rockets "will permit the Houston Aeros to play their home games in the Arena on fair market terms similar to those offered to unaffiliated minor league hockey teams in comparable arena facilities."

Houston and Chicago are the two largest U.S. cities with franchises in the 30-team AHL, but the Chicago franchise does not share an arena with an NBA or NHL team and plays in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Ill.

"They have a business and we have a business, and everybody's got their own interests and that's why the process continues, and we're in the middle of that process," Aeros general manager Jim Mill said. "We're still talking, and that's about the only update I can give you."

More Information

Aeros attendance

The team's average attendance at Toyota Center for the last five seasons:

Season Attendance

2008-09 5,982 (8)

2009-10 5,770 (9)

2010-11 6,326 (9)

2011-12 7,324 (5)

2012-13 6,656 (8)

Note: League rank in parentheses.

Rockets will have say

Rockets CEO Tad Brown said the Rockets would be amenable to a new agreement "under the right circumstances."

"It hasn't been as clearly fleshed out," Brown said. "There have been a lot of things we've been focusing on, and we will get to that in due time."

Options for another local venue for the Aeros are limited.

"We've investigated other venues, but there are none that are hockey ready at this time, as of today," Mill said.

Reliant Arena was considered, but "it got down to finances out there as well," Schmees said. "There could be scheduling issues (with the rodeo). They had meetings. For whatever reason, it just didn't work."

The Aeros came to Houston in 1994 as part of the International Hockey League and won an IHL title in 1999 and later an American Hockey League title in 2003 after joining the AHL in 2001. That season, the Aeros became an affiliate of the Minnesota Wild of the NHL. Minnesota bought a majority share of the Aeros in 2003.

The Aeros were Houston's second time around with pro hockey. Houston was a member of the upstart World Hockey Association that tried to take on the NHL from 1972-1978 with star players such as Gordie Howe. The original Aeros won two WHA titles before folding in 1978, one season before the WHA closed its doors.

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After playing at the Compaq Center (originally The Summit), the Aeros moved to Toyota Center for the 2003-04 season. The team got a five-year lease extension after the 2008 season when it had considered moving to Des Moines, Iowa. The Aeros this season are averaging 6,656 in attendance - eighth in the league.

But with the current lease expiring at the end of the season - the last home game is April 13, although if the Aeros make the playoffs they could play longer - the latest chapter in Houston hockey could be nearing an end.

"Obviously the whole community enjoys hockey, and when we can have a team here, we want to keep them," Schmees said. "It's not our role to negotiate that."

But Mill isn't ready to close the door on hockey in Houston.

"As long as conversations and discussions continue, I don't know why anybody would jump to any conclusion one way or another," he said.